LAPD to extend 'predictive policing' in city

The LAPD plans to expand a high-tech crime fighting method across the whole city known as "predictive policing."

The method uses crime statistics to help the department figure out where would-be criminals might strike next. Officers are then sent to those areas to deter the crimes.

The program was launched last year in certain areas, and police say there has been a double-digit drop in burglaries and other property crime in those areas.

The goal is not to boost the number of arrests, which is a typical police benchmark to reflect crime reduction. Instead, officers want to either intercept a crime in progress or deter would-be criminals.

The LAPD is the largest agency to experiment with "predictive policing."